Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Beer & Music Festival 2012

From the 25th to the 28th of October, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) hosted their annual Beer & Music festival on their heritage railway line. I was allowed to photograph the music acts, steam trains and bar during the event.

Safety first

Being a railway, I had to wear a high visibility vest at all times, and of course there would be no drinking while on the job. As I’d be shuffling around with my digital camera and big lenses, I wouldn’t want to even if I could!

Medium format film, 35mm film and digital

I took with me my Canon 5D, with the 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II, 28-135mm IS and the 50mm f/1.8. In addition to this, I also took a Canon 300v film body, for use with Ilford Delta 3200. I also brought by Mamiya C330F, this too loaded with Ilford Delta 3200.

To flash or not to flash?

I did take my 580 EX II flash with me, but I’ve never really liked using a flashgun before. I find that they’re very hit and miss and even when bouncing can create annoying shadows and strange light casts. I did manage to take some photographs which worked well with the flash, but luckily there was enough ambient light to run the camera at ISO 3200 and still get decent results.

The Copper Dragon staff posing for a photograph at the KWVR. Flash worked well in this instance, but can be hit and miss.

Photographing people

During Thursday night, when no bands were playing, I got the opportunity to photograph people working at the event, serving drinks and using the pumps. The 70-200mm was a great lens for catching bar staff talking to punters, or carrying out their duties at the bar.

I really liked the depth of field here, with the brightly coloured barrels in the background, and the movement blur from the barman’s had.

The shallow depth of field I was forced to use with an aperture of f/4.0 was actually a great way of singling out subject to create shots with. They added depth to the photographs, while providing narratives with the backgrounds.

Photographing the bands

One of the best parts of the event was a great line up of local bands. These really livened up the event, and Friday night’s highlights were JB Goode and Eddie Earthquake and the Tremors. Both bands had a great retro sound, playing classic 50s and 60s hits.

I’ve only ever done gig photography with film before (On Ilford 3200, of course) but have never tried it with digital. I’ve always thought that my ageing Canon 5D wouldn’t perform well, as the ISO rendering often looks a bit grainy. I was pleasantly surprised that it performed really well while photographing the acts.

I used the spot meter to get a reading of the performers faces, before composing and focusing my shots. This worked really well, and the addition of excellent lighting on the stage helped create great shots too.

The 5D worked well at 3200, especially with the super sharp 70-200mm f/2.8. The lighting added so much to the photographs of the performers on stage.

Closeups of performers really brought out detail, and reflecting lights on peoples faces and clothing added extra form to the photographs.

The lighting reflecting off the leather jacked added a great splash of colour to the JB Goode guitarist.

Photographing emotion

The Musicians on stage were really giving it their all. I found that photographs expressing this were ultimately the ones I chose to keep.

Super closeup shots with the 70-200 brought out the expressions of the performers well.

Saturday saw classic rock band Dark Horse took to the stage, and the photographs I took here were probably some of the best ones of the weekend.

Expressions were great to pick out as the bands performed through the event

Last Orders were the last band before the Beatles Revolution on Saturday night, and these too provided a great subject to photographs up on the stage at Oxenhope.

More great music from Last Orders at the KWVR. Capturing shots with multiple band members added interest to the photographs.

The last band on Saturday were the Beatles Revolution group. By this point, there festival was packed, so space was limited at the front of the stage. I still managed to get some good shots of the band playing classic Beatles hits.

Space was limited both on and off stage, but having got a good spot early on made it easier to photograph the Beatles Revolution.

Photographing the trains

Throughout the weekend the trains were ferrying people in and out of the Oxenhope station to attend the gig. This allowed me to get a few shots of the steam trains as they entered the station, pulling in the carriages packed with thirsty punters.

One of the steam trains running on the line over the weekend at the KWVR.

I managed to get a shot of the running gear of the train with the Mamiya C330F, using Ilford Delta 3200. The low light was tough to use at this event, especially as the evening crept in at the station.

The steam train running gear taken on the Mamiya C330F on Ilford Delta processed in Ilford DD-X.

Film photographs on stage

With the JB Goode and Eddie Earthquake and the Tremors bands I managed to shoot off a roll of Ilford Delta 3200 on the Canon 300v. I was really pleased with out shots of the performers turned out using this combination. I could have done with a camera with a spot metre, as this would have made the shots a bit more consistent.

This band really suited the black and white images from the Delta 3200 film.

The film manages to capture something that the digital camera can’t, and proved popular with the bands when they contacted me about their photographs.

The black and white shots added a classy, retro look to the bands at KWVR

To sum up…

I had a fantastic time at the KWVR Beer & Music festival. I was amazed at how well my Canon 5D held up in challenging conditions, and I now have a much greater understanding about metering in low light. I’d like to thank Mark and Stef from the KWVR, who allowed me to photograph the event, and to the rest of the KWVR volunteers who fed me and made me feel welcome at the event.

Further viewing and reading

I have a set of the KWVR music festival photos on Flickr, and if you want to visit the railway yourself they have a Keighley and Worth Valley Railway website with a list of the events and information about the railway.

Posted in: 35mm, 6x6, Digital, Events, Film Photography, Medium Format, Music Photography